Jon Lloyd, Sally Gibson , Marie-Laure Bagard, Eimear Deady, Jana Horák, Helen Pendlowski, Frances Cooper, Laura C. Kelly, Oliver Lord, Jazmin Scarlett, Kevin Murphy

During its November 2020 Council meeting, the Mineralogical Society decided to conduct a survey of its members and others to assess views on equality, diversity and inclusivity (EDI) in terms of the experience of individuals. Although many organizations, including Learned Societies, have developed policy on the basis of surveys, meetings at executive and other committee level, and through the holding of so-called ‘Town Hall’ meetings, Council members resolved that our Society should undertake a detailed survey to develop a view
through the lens of our members and others who are associated with our organization.
The responses come from a largely ‘white’, British audience. This probably reflects the demographics in our subject and in our membership and is something that we acknowledge
needs to change. In the report below, and in the appendices, we drill down into the data provided by these respondents. Here are some of the key points:
• 36% of our respondents say that they have never experienced discrimination
(section 1). The remaining 64% have experienced it to varying degrees with 12% of
the overall number having >10 such experiences.
• Women are more likely (88%) than men (48%) to have experienced discrimination.
• 75% of people with a mental-health condition had experienced discrimination. 62%
of people with no such condition had experienced discrimination.
• 47% of men with mental-health challenges felt that their workplace was not inclusive
(for women, the equivalent figure was 39%).
• 75% of people with a physical-health condition had experienced discrimination.
• 59% of respondents who consider themselves to be White British, Irish, Welsh or Scottish had experienced discrimination; this figure was 79% for those from other
ethnic backgrounds.
• Also confirmed is that a significant proportion (33%) of our respondents have found their place of work to not be “inclusive”.
• Strong support was given for suggestions presented in the survey about how best to make our organization more EDI-conscious (section 2).
• There was a significant proportion of respondents (5%) who reacted negatively to the survey, to the lines of questioning and even to the need for a survey. It is the view of some that “we do not have a problem”. Such responses are treated
respectfully here, but the direction of travel will support the clear majority view which suggests that the Society should adjust its modus operandi in as many areas of activity as possible. (Such comments, reproduced in Appendix 3 under the heading ‘Rejection’, are not condoned by the Society or its EDI committee. We do hope to use these comments to help in our development of an EDI approach.)